Knitting-machine.



Patented July 27, 1915.

H. SWINGLEHURST.

KNITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION rain) MAY 26. 191:.

chines of the typ WILLIAMS INCORPORATED, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPQ narrow or new JERSEY.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 216, 1911. Serial No. 629,668.

it, all whom it may concern Baitlmown that I, HARRY SWINGLE- .rrtms'r, a citizen of the'United States, residing in Boston, Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Knitting-Machines, at which the following is a specification.

- The object of myinvention is to provide means for retaining the needles and jacks of; a circular knitting machine in proper relation to one another, my invention having special significance in connection with machines employing beard needles such as shown in applications for patent filed by Robert W. Scott on March 17, 1911, Serial 4 Numbers 615,163 and 615,164, and in application for patent filed by myself upon the third day of May, 1911, Serial No. 624,801.

in the accompanying drawing-Figure 1 is a. vertical sectional view of a knitting machine cylinder having needles, jacks and a .mtaining device therefor constructed in ac- :ajrdance with my present invention and Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of said retainer.

, In machines of the class recited the needies are operated through the agency of a jack, and in the drawings the jack illustrated is similar to that employed in mae shown in George D. Mayos Patent 726,17 8, dated April 21, 1903. y In the drawing, 1 represents the needle cylinder, 2 the needle jack, and 3 the needle,

said needle and jack, being locked together by engagement of the butt 4 of the needle with appropriate jaws formed by the enlarged head 5 of the jack.

c In practice difiiculty has been experienced in preventing the head of the jack from leaving the butt of the needle, even when coiled springs have been applied, this tendency to withdraw the jaws of the jack-from engagement with the butt of the needle being due to the downward pressure of the butting cams upon the relatively long butt '7 of the needle jack.

It is also customary, in machines of this class, to provideone or more spring bands, in order to retain the needles in their grooves, but in developing, a machine in which the bearded end of the needle shank is ofiset outwardly, as shown and described in the applications above referred to, it has been found that when the needles are rendered inactive by being abnormally ele-- vated the spring band tends to hold the needle inwardly and thereby prevent any outward yield of the shank or stem of the elevated needle, and when the last needle of Patented duly er, tars.

the inactive set is thus prevented from yieldmg outwardly the tendency is to cause aslack stitch at the gore, in view of the fact that the knocking-over portion of the first adjacent active needle is in a difierent plane from the main stem of the last inactive needle.

In order to overcome these difliculties l have provided the needle cylinder with an enc rcling ring 10, of such dimensions that its inner face contacts with the heads 5 of the jacks 2, as shown in Fig. 1, and efiectually prevents them. from leaving the butts of the needles.

The upper edge of the ring 10 is provided with. an inwardly projecting flange 11 which rests upon the upper ends of the ribs or partitions 12 between which the needles and jacks are guided in their reciprocation, the

inner periphery of this flange preventing any abnormal outward movement of the needle but enough space being provided between said inner periphery and the stem of the needle to permit slight outward movement, of the stem of an elevated and inactive needle, whereby the latter may move toward or into register with the projected upper portion of the stem oi an adjoining active needle, thereby overcoming the tendency to cause slack stitches at the gore, to which I have above referred.

The ring 10 is split in order to permit of its ready removal from or application to the machine, the sections of the ring being held together by plates 13, as shown in Fig. 2, and at one side of the ring the ends are separated from each other to a slight extent tinder having a retaining ring with rigid inner face for engaging the jacks and retaining them in engagement with the needles and another ring with rigid inner face bearing such relation to the lower portions of the stems of the needles as to retain the same closely against the cylinder when the needles are knitting, but when aneedle is raised out of operative position permitting the straight portion of the needle stem of the end needle of the raised or inoperative set to be moved out into line with the forwardly bent upper portion of the stem of the adjoining active needle.

2. A knitting machine having needles with loosely attached jacks, a cylinder in which said needles and jacks are mounted, and a In testimony whereof, I have signed my 25 name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY SWINGLEHURST.

Witnesses:

KATE A. BEADLE, HAMILTON D. TURNER.

Qopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. v Washington, D. (3. 

